Gordon B. Hinckley
Born: 23 June 1910
Called as Assistant to the Twelve: 6 April 1958
Called to the Quorum of the Twelve: 5 October 1961
Called as Third Counselor in the First Presidency: 23 July 1981 (Spencer W. Kimball)
Called as Second Counselor in the First Presidency: 2 December 1982 (Spencer W. Kimball)
Called as First Counselor in the First Presidency: 10 November 1985 (Ezra Taft Benson)
Called as First Counselor in the First Presidency: 5 June 1994 (Howard W. Hunter)
Became President of the Quorum of the Twelve: 5 June 1994
Sustained as President of the Church: 12 March 1995
Died: 27 January 2008
Called as Assistant to the Twelve: 6 April 1958
Called to the Quorum of the Twelve: 5 October 1961
Called as Third Counselor in the First Presidency: 23 July 1981 (Spencer W. Kimball)
Called as Second Counselor in the First Presidency: 2 December 1982 (Spencer W. Kimball)
Called as First Counselor in the First Presidency: 10 November 1985 (Ezra Taft Benson)
Called as First Counselor in the First Presidency: 5 June 1994 (Howard W. Hunter)
Became President of the Quorum of the Twelve: 5 June 1994
Sustained as President of the Church: 12 March 1995
Died: 27 January 2008
Biographical Articles
Instructor, March 1938, Gordon B. Hinckley
Improvement Era, June 1958, Gordon B. Hinckley, Assistant to the Twelve
Relief Society Magazine, June 1958, Gordon B. Hinckley, An Impression
Improvement Era, December 1961, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley of the Council of the Twelve
Relief Society Magazine, December 1961, Gordon Bitner Hinckley Appointed to the Council of the Twelve
Ensign, September 1981, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley Called to the First Presidency, Neal A. Maxwell to the Quorum of the Twelve
Ensign, January 1982, President Gordon B. Hinckley: The Spiritual Sculpturing of a Righteous Soul
Ensign, February 1986, President Gordon B. Hinckley: First Counselor
Ensign, September 1994, President Gordon B. Hinckley: An Anchor of Faith
Ensign, April 1995, President Gordon B. Hinckley: Fifteenth President of the Church
Ensign, June 1995, President Gordon B. Hinckley: Stalwart and Brave He Stands
Ensign, September 1999, President Hinckley Turns 89
Ensign, September 2000, President Hinckley Celebrates 90th Birthday
Ensign, July 2001, President and Sister Hinckley, Elder Wirthlin Receive Honorary Doctorates
Ensign, September 2001, President Hinckley Celebrates 91st Birthday
Ensign, July 2002, President Hinckley and the Nauvoo Temple
Ensign, September 2002, President Hinckley Celebrates 92nd Birthday
Ensign, June 2003, President and Sister Hinckley Celebrate 66th Anniversary
Ensign, January 2007, President Gordon B. Hinckley Becomes Oldest Church President
Ensign, January 2017, Gordon B. Hinckley: A Prophet of Optimism and Vision
Improvement Era, June 1958, Gordon B. Hinckley, Assistant to the Twelve
Relief Society Magazine, June 1958, Gordon B. Hinckley, An Impression
Improvement Era, December 1961, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley of the Council of the Twelve
Relief Society Magazine, December 1961, Gordon Bitner Hinckley Appointed to the Council of the Twelve
Ensign, September 1981, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley Called to the First Presidency, Neal A. Maxwell to the Quorum of the Twelve
Ensign, January 1982, President Gordon B. Hinckley: The Spiritual Sculpturing of a Righteous Soul
Ensign, February 1986, President Gordon B. Hinckley: First Counselor
Ensign, September 1994, President Gordon B. Hinckley: An Anchor of Faith
Ensign, April 1995, President Gordon B. Hinckley: Fifteenth President of the Church
Ensign, June 1995, President Gordon B. Hinckley: Stalwart and Brave He Stands
Ensign, September 1999, President Hinckley Turns 89
Ensign, September 2000, President Hinckley Celebrates 90th Birthday
Ensign, July 2001, President and Sister Hinckley, Elder Wirthlin Receive Honorary Doctorates
Ensign, September 2001, President Hinckley Celebrates 91st Birthday
Ensign, July 2002, President Hinckley and the Nauvoo Temple
Ensign, September 2002, President Hinckley Celebrates 92nd Birthday
Ensign, June 2003, President and Sister Hinckley Celebrate 66th Anniversary
Ensign, January 2007, President Gordon B. Hinckley Becomes Oldest Church President
Ensign, January 2017, Gordon B. Hinckley: A Prophet of Optimism and Vision
"Elder Gordon B. Hinckley." Instructor. March 1938. pg. 117.
ELDER GORDON B. HINCKLEY Gordon B. Hinckley was born in Salt Lake City on June 23, 1910, the son of Bryant S. and Ada Bitner Hinckley. His father is now president of the Northern States mission. Elder Hinckley's education was obtained in the public schools of Salt Lake City, the Latter-day Saints' College, in the same city, and the University of Utah, from the last of which institutions he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the class of '32. After his graduation from the University he took a mission to Great Britain, where he served for the two years including 1933 to 1935. Part of this time he served as assistant editor of the Millennial Star. When the New Oxford Movement, originated by John Buchman, held its general convention at Oxford, in June, 1935, Elder Hinckley, with a companion missionary, spent several days there, studying the organization and its methods, being much impressed with the energy and widespread effects of the movement. At this gathering there were representatives from forty nations. On Elder Hinckley's return home he resumed his active participation in the Church. At one time he was in the stake superintendency of the M. I. A. Later he served on the stake board of the Liberty stake Sunday Schools, and later still was chosen as the superintendent of Sunday Schools in that stake. Meantime he taught in the L. D. S. Seminary, attended by students of the South High School. At present he is Editorial Secretary and Radio Director of the Church and Mission Publicity and Literature Committee. With his wife, who was Marjorie Pay, and whom he married in April, 1937, he lives on a farm in East Mill Creek, on which he supervises the raising of fruit and a vegetable garden. He was appointed to the General Board, November 16, 1937. |
GORDON B. HINCKLEY
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Williams, LaMar S. "Gordon B. Hinckley, Assistant to the Twelve." Improvement Era. June 1958. pg. 396, 472-474.
Gordon B. Hinckley Assistant to the Twelve by LaMar S. Williams One hundred twenty-eight years ago this month (June), Samuel Harrison Smith was set apart by the Prophet Joseph Smith to take a missionary journey to the East. From this rather humble beginning has evolved the huge missionary program of the Church which is receiving international fame. From this first journey, during which copies of the Book of Mormon were sold and the gospel preached, has grown an activity of great importance. For many years, as assistant in the missionary department and as executive secretary of the missionary committee, Gordon B. Hinckley has played a part in expediting this phase of the Lord's work. Under the direction of the First Presidency and the missionary committee, he carries responsibility in supplying over 11,000 missionaries in the stake and foreign missions with the necessary materials to teach the gospel. There were over 30,000 converts as a result of missionary labor last year. The missionary department gives attention to such diversified phases as military status, translation of mission literature, missionary calls, missionary training, assisting mission presidents, preparation and distribution of mission literature, problems arising from sick missionaries, mission reports, radio broadcasts, training films, pictures, and many other duties with their varied details. In addition to this work, he has been serving as president of the East Mill Creek Stake. The efficient way he has carried on his responsibilities qualified him for the important calling which came on April 6, 1958, when he was sustained as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Hinckley has had the rare privilege of associating with all of the General Authorities. His work has brought him close to President David O. McKay and under the direct supervision of President Stephen L Richards, who directs the missionary activity of the Church. Gordon Bitner Hinckley was born June 23, 1910, the son of Bryant S. and Ada Bitner Hinckley. During his youth, he was taught the value of work. It was here on the farm that he learned to milk the cow, do the chores, pick the fruit. Across the street from the Hinckley city home lived a beautiful girl, Marjorie Pay, who became attracted to this modest youth in whom she observed a keen intellect and the ability to achieve. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on April 29, 1937. Sister Hinckley, a loyal and devoted wife and mother, is presently serving in the East Mill Creek Fourth Ward Relief Society presidency. They have been blessed with five lovely children, Kathleen (19), Richard G. (16), Virginia (13), Clark (10), and Cynthia Jane (4). Many who work under Elder Hinckley's direction seek his advice and respect his counsel. With the ability to make thoughtful decisions, he rarely looks back with regret. He loves people and his greatest concern is their welfare. Telephone calls come at all hours of the day and night. Recently a young missionary was compelled to leave his field of labor because of serious illness. When he arrived here in Salt Lake City, he underwent an operation, following which a room was secured for him near the hospital so his mother could be with him while convalescing. It was during the hot months of summer, and the room became very uncomfortable. Elder Hinckley sent the electric fan from his office to this elder so that his room could be made more comfortable and his suffering more bearable. In 1930, when his mother suffered a lingering illness that resulted in her death, Gordon assumed much of her responsibility in the home and extended to her a loving son's tender care so deeply appreciated by a parent but so often lacking in youth. Elder Hinckley's faith in his Father in heaven has been manifested many times. The day before he left for New Zealand where he had been given an assignment by the First Presidency pertaining to the temple recently dedicated there, he said, "I have administered to my father who is lying unconscious in the hospital and not expected to live, but I am strongly impressed that he will not pass away while I am on this assignment." On the contrary, he indicated that his father would live and gain strength. From that time to the present his father's condition has shown some measure of improvement. Elder Hinckley is a man of versatility who built and remodeled his own home. Among his many interests are mechanics and electronics. He is especially gifted in writing and he is the author of What of the Mormons and the biography of James H. Moyle, father of Henry D. Moyle of the Council of the Twelve. He has also supervised the writing and production of many radio broadcasts and Church publications. During the course of his work, he has interviewed writers, reporters, and business representatives from around the world. Without taking his eyes from his task in typing a report or formulating or correcting a letter, he has many times listened to the problems of those laboring under his direction and rendered decisions. He has a rare gift of concentration. Elder Hinckley seldom forgets a name or a person. His excellent memory is often displayed as he scans the vast amount of material and hundreds of letters that cross his desk. His ability as an expert teacher was recognized early on his return home from the British Mission, where he served from 1933 to 1935. A group of teen-age boys were causing considerable confusion in the ward Sunday School. Elder Hinckley reshaped their behavior, and they soon became a source of joy and inspiration to this natural leader of youth. Whenever he has had the responsibility of rendering a decision regarding the misconduct of a young man or woman, he is often heard to say, "We must save them the embarrassment of facing their loved ones if possible and avoid the heartaches that may come to their future family by giving them every opportunity to redeem themselves and establish a new way of life." When the rare task of having to rebuke someone is necessary, he has the unusual ability of instilling in the heart of the recipient the conviction that his interest and love for the wrongdoer are genuine. Elder Hinckley was never a pugnacious individual but often referred to as shy. In his quiet way he is a peacemaker. Elder Hinckley is a descendant of pioneer and Pilgrim forebears. He received his education in the Salt Lake City public schools and is a graduate of the University of Utah. While on his mission in Great Britain, he worked on a special assignment given him by his mission president, the late Joseph F. Merrill of the Council of the Twelve. Brother Hinckley has served for many years as executive secretary of the missionary committee of the Church. During World War II, he was assistant superintendent of the Salt Lake Union Depot and Railway Company and later became assistant manager of mail and express of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. He was offered an important executive position with this company, but because of his great love for the missionary work, he declined. He has directed the translation of Church literature for many years and also supervised the preparation of the Liahona, the official Spanish publication. He is a member of the committee on foreign temples, having made two trips to Switzerland and one to New Zealand, attending the dedication and helping to inaugurate the work of each temple. Vice-president and a director of Recording Arts, Inc., he is also a director of Radio Service Corporation of Utah (KSL). His Church responsibilities have been many and varied. He served as a member of the Deseret Sunday School Board from 1937 to 1946, as stake Sunday School superintendent of Liberty Stake, 1936 to 1937, as second and first counselor in the East Mill Creek Stake presidency, in 1956 as president of that stake. There is no place in Gordon's life for disorder. He loves his work and achievement in it, and delights in productive results. The Lord has guided the destiny of this chosen leader throughout his life and has prepared him for this important position. That our Heavenly Father may continue to bless him and his lovely family in helping to build the kingdom of God is the sincere prayer of all who know him. |
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley with Sister Hinckley and children, (l. to r.): Virginia, Cynthia Jane, Sister Hinckley, Elder Hinckley, Kathleen, Richard, and Clark.
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley. Elder Hinckley was sustained as Assistant to the Twelve at general conference
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Young, S. Dilworth. "Gordon B. Hinckley, An Impression." Relief Society Magazine. June 1958. pg. 358-359.
[first page missing] flung missions of the Church are implemented by this pleasant, unhurried man. New mission presidents and their wives are instructed in mission policy with unruffled calmness and assurance. The Sunday night Church broadcasts, with their to-the-second timing, pass through his nimble fingers. Prospective speeches for broadcasts on national hookups are read by him with tactful suggestions on how to eliminate parts which might give offense to the audience or be misrepresentative of the Church viewpoint. No one can be offended at his tactful, gentle censorship of these important public pronouncements. There is to be a last minute checkup on the detail of program at the Swiss Temple. All one learns is that Brother Hinckley has gone to Switzerland for a few days. He'll be back Thursday. The temple ceremonies must be in several languages. You will find Gordon B. Hinckley over at the temple watching with keen eye for any mistranslations. One could go on and on. With the easy grace of the natural executive, the born director of men, Gordon B. Hinckley plows steadily through the mountain of detail of the far-flung operations of the Church. Firm where firmness is needed, yet firm without being resented, kind and gentle all of the time, he comes to his new position better prepared than most. He has been tried in the furnace. He has never been found wanting. We have not mentioned that, in addition to his daily responsibility, he is president of East Millcreek Stake. He finds time, too, to preside over one of the most charming and delightful families in the Church. He comes to the new position as Assistant to the Twelve well prepared to implement their work and to love and serve the people. In the words of his favorite telephone ending, we say, ''Good enough!" |
Courtesy The Deseret News
ELDER GORDON B. HINCKLEY AND HIS FAMILY Left to right: Virginia; Marjorie Pay Hinckley, holding Cynthia Jane; Elder Hinckley; Kathleen; Richard; Clark (kneeling). |
Ashton, Wendall J. "Elder Gordon B. Hinckley of the Council of the Twelve." Improvement Era. December 1961. pg. 906-907, 978-983.
GORDON B. HINCKLEY OF THE QUORUM OF THE TWELVE BY WENDELL J. ASHTON He looked like the times in which he lived. He was lean, and freckles were beginning to fade from his thin face. In a few days he would be twenty-three. His name was Gordon Bitner Hinckley, and the roses were just beginning to bloom across Salt Lake Valley in 1933. But conditions in America were anything but rosy. It was the bottom of the Great Depression. People sang "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime," and men who once had prospered were selling apples on the streets. Gordon Hinckley, who had been graduated from the University of Utah a year earlier, had been working at a small job to put together enough money to take him to Columbia University to continue his studies in English and journalism. Then a tall man stepped in, John C. Duncan, bishop of the First Ward of Liberty Stake. A mission was discussed. Relatively few young men were getting mission calls then. Parents just did not have the means. Gordon Hinckley had always been a faithful boy in the Church. But now college and a love of literature had lifted his eyes toward a career in journalism. But he answered the challenge of the Church. And that was the beginning of a new life for him—a life that was to become a mission instead of a career. That first mission actually lasted twenty-eight years, except for two years during World War II. Elder Hinckley's mission reached a new crest on a Saturday morning in 1961, the last day of September. The sun was just beginning to send its glow over towering Mount Olympus to the east of Gordon and Marjorie Hinckley's white frame home in East Mill Creek. Marjorie answered the telephone at about seven o'clock. It was President David O. McKay. When Gordon B. Hinckley greeted President McKay forty-five minutes later, a new call came—to the Council of the Twelve. Later that day Elder Hinckley was sustained an apostle, a witness for Jesus the Christ. Next day, at the concluding conference session, the new apostle said with his typically sincere, "over-the-back- fence" eloquence: "I would like to say that this cause is either true or false. Either this is the kingdom of God, or it is a sham and a delusion. Either Joseph talked with the Father and the Son or he did not. If he did not, we are engaged in a blasphemy. If he did, we have a duty from which none of us can shrink—to declare to the world the living reality of the God of the universe, the Father of us all and his Son the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, our Redeemer, the Author of our salvation, the Prince of Peace. "I give you my testimony that this is true." Gordon B. Hinckley had spoken words like those twenty-six years before, from a portable wooden stand to a shifting, critical crowd in London's Hyde Park. That testimony has guided his actions since. And through nearly three decades he in turn has cast a mighty imprint on the unfolding missionary effort of the restored Church. Elder Hinckley began his missionary labors in Preston, a town of spires and green hedges in a cloudy north England. The gospel harvest was sparse in Britain when Elder Hinckley began knocking on tenement doors and preaching at night in Preston's lonely market square. In 1933, a total of 525 missionaries were sent into the field. Approximately 7,000 converts were being brought into the Church each year then, in all of the missions of the world. In the year that Elder Hinckley has been called to the Council of the Twelve there are more than 9,000 missionaries in sixty-four missions around the world. Their harvest of souls will approximate 90,000 this year. Following his labors in Lancashire, Elder Hinckley was assigned to London where he became assistant to Elder Joseph F. Merrill of the Council of the Twelve, presiding over the European Mission. When Elder Hinckley returned to Salt Lake City after a successful completion of his mission, he was asked by President Merrill to meet with the First Presidency concerning the missions in Europe. President Heber J. Grant said: "Brother Hinckley, we'll give you fifteen minutes." One hour and fifteen minutes later, the young missionary emerged from the room. In a few days, President David O. McKay, then Second Counselor in the First Presidency, called Elder Hinckley and told him that the Church would like him to become executive secretary of the Church Radio, Publicity, and Mission Literature Committee. Elder Stephen L Richards, then of the Council of the Twelve, was chairman. He went to work in getting out filmstrips, picturing the Mormon Pioneers, the temples, modern-day prophets, the Book of Mormon, and other subjects. As the years rolled on, he turned his versatile skills to other missionary tools, and for a quarter of a century, he supervised the LDS Sunday evening KSL radio programs. He wrote two books to assist missionaries. He authored and produced a major part of the classical "Fulness of Times" recordings. In thirty-nine episodes on the history of the Church they were played over hundreds of radio stations around the globe. He also wrote and produced the popular "New Witness for Christ" series. Elder Hinckley wrote or edited scores of gospel tracts and pamphlets. He supervised a corps of specialists, translating the Book of Mormon and other scriptures into many tongues. In 1939 he designed and supervised the erection of the Church exhibit at the San Francisco World Fair on Treasure Island. The exhibit was in the form of a scale model of the Salt Lake Tabernacle in which organ recitals and illustrated lectures were presented. Tens of thousands of people poured through. Continuing his work with the missions, he was in 1951 named executive secretary of the General Missionary Committee. He arranged broadcasts of the general conferences of the Church and the far-flung private wire hookups for the general priesthood meeting during conference. On April 6, 1958, Elder Hinckley was called to be an Assistant to the Council of the Twelve. His typically tangy humor opened his Tabernacle remarks that day: "My dear brethren and sisters, I am reminded of a statement made by my first missionary companion when I received a letter of transfer to the European Mission office. After I had read it, I turned it over to him. He read it, and then said: 'Well, you must have helped an old lady across the street in the preexistence. This has not come because of anything you've done here.' " Since becoming a General Authority, in addition to his service with the Missionary Committee, he has supervised the Northern and Southern Far East Missions and the Hawaii Mission of the Church. Twice he has visited mission areas in Hawaii, Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Philippines. In all his labors he has kept close to the heartbeats of the missionaries themselves. He has been with them in the London fog, in the cold Swiss rain, in the Montana wind, and in the humid heat of the Orient. He has helped them when sick, comforted them when bereaved, encouraged them when despondent, sorrowed with them in their tragedies, and rejoiced with them in their tremendous accomplishments. He has been on his knees with many a young man in distress. In all the difficult years during and since the Korean War, Elder Hinckley has handled their complex problems incident to Selective Service and the military. In his frequent meetings with draft officials and military officers his policy has been to get the facts and compose the difficulty equitably for all concerned. The procedures which have been developed out of these discussions have made it possible for thousands of our young men to go on missions and also meet the military obligations imposed by Congress. One of his most strenuous and far-reaching assignments has been preparation of the temple ordinances in various languages. Named in 1953 to work with President Joseph Fielding Smith and Richard L. Evans, he has supervised the production of temple materials in English, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Spanish, Tongan, Tahitian, Samoan, and Maori. He was then sent by the First Presidency to participate in the dedication and opening of ordinance work in the Swiss, New Zealand, and London temples. Few men in this century have worked more intimately or as long with the Church missionary effort, its mission presidents, and the missionaries. During World War II, there came an event which could have drastically altered the course of his life. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor plunged America into war late in 1941, he applied at the United States Navy recruiting office for officer training, but he was rejected because of a history of allergies. So to assist otherwise with the war effort he went to work with the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Company, and as stationmaster, he called the trains. The railroad company promoted him to assistant manager of mail, baggage, and express for the entire system. This took him and his family to Denver. With the end of the war, Elder Stephen L Richards asked him to return to the Church office. Railroad officials asked him to take a ninety-day leave and return if he wished. About a year later, Elder Hinckley received a call from Denver. He decided to stay at his post with the Church. "This is the Lord's work," he told a friend. "I felt I would make my best contribution in life by continuing to do my humble part to further the cause." And Gordon Hinckley, like Samuel of old, ". . . grew on, and was in favor both with the Lord, and also with men." (1 Sam. 2:26.) Elder Hinckley is blessed with a noble heritage. He is a member of the Society of Mayflower descendants. His forebear, Samuel Hinckley, was governor of Massachusetts Colony in 1680. His grandfather, Ira Nathaniel Hinckley, was born in Upper Canada. In 1835, when he was seven, his family first heard the gospel preached by Mormon missionaries. Two years later, Ira was an orphan. When he was sixteen, he accompanied his stepfather and his family to Nauvoo. There, Ira often heard the Prophet Joseph Smith preach in the grove west of the temple. Ira Hinckley crossed the plains to Utah in 1850. Then on a call from President Brigham Young, he erected historic Cove Fort in central Utah. He previously had been called to build the stone schoolhouse and church in Coalville. It was there that his son Bryant S., Gordon's father, was born. An articulate and practical man, Bryant S. Hinckley became a leader in the Church—as teacher, author, speaker, and administrator. At the age of ninety-three he died, just four months before his son Gordon was sustained an apostle. Gordon's mother, Ada Bitner Hinckley, was a cultured woman. Before her marriage, she was Utah's first Gregg shorthand teacher, at LDS College. She also taught English, and as a bride, she brought a baby grand piano into their new home. Gordon B. Hinckley was born on June 23, 1910. His first home was a two-story gray frame house with white shutters and trim on the southwest corner of Windsor and Seventh South streets in Salt Lake City. Gordon is one of eleven living children, his mother's eldest son. At two, he was stricken with whooping cough, which left him frail and weak. "The boy needs more fresh air and sunlight," his doctor said. That was a factor in his father's purchasing a farm in the East Mill Creek area. Gordon's earliest recollection is that of watching the stonemason lay the rocks for the fireplace in the Hinckley farmhouse. For the summer months of every year, this became the Hinckley family home. It later was the first home of the newlyweds, Gordon and Marjorie Hinckley. Gordon's appetite for literature came naturally. His mother often read to her children from good books. Then there was his father's spacious home library. But if Gordon liked books, he did not as a boy care for school. He "kicked up a terrible fuss" when he started at Hamilton grade school. As with many boys, he often tussled with his younger brother Sherman, bigger in body. ( Sherman was later to become a successful mining executive.) One day their father tossed a pair of boxing gloves before them. "Now the next time you want to fight, put these on, move outside, and go after it in style," Bryant S. Hinckley said. "My parents were wise disciplinarians," Gordon Hinckley later said. "I never recall their punishing us children physically." Gordon feasted on work, developing Spartan-like courage and determination, and he could make stalled cars run, and while still a youth he could handle household electric, carpentry, and plumbing repairs. At Christmastime, the Hinckley family library sparkled with his miniature scenes, complete with lights. On the family farm he raised strawberries, corn, tomatoes, peaches, pears, and cherries. His first paying job was as carrier for the Deseret News. Years later he was named to the board of directors and executive committee of the Deseret News Publishing Company, also to the board of directors of the parent company of KSL radio and television. By the time he reached college, Gordon was beginning to gain a reputation as a speaker. It was announced one day that United States Senator Reed Smoot would give an address at the First Ward's Sacrament meeting. Senator Smoot was a member of the Council of the Twelve. Something developed on Saturday which took the Senator away. The bishop had to adjust fast. Sunday morning he called in two of "his boys." Bosom pals, they had been ward teaching companions, though both were only about twenty. The bishop asked them to prepare to substitute for Senator Smoot that night. Gordon Hinckley had a watering turn to handle that day at the family farm. He handled it, but he was there on the stand at Sacrament meeting before an overflow congregation who had come to hear Senator Smoot. "When Gordy Hinckley finished speaking," recalled his companion, Bob (Robert F.) Sonntag, "people had forgotten all about Senator Smoot's absence. The boy really stirred them." Gordon Hinckley has been acquainted with his sweetheart and wife from childhood days. She is brown-eyed, dark-haired, bright, and intelligent Marjorie Pay. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple, April 29, 1937, and soon moved into the Hinckley farmhouse in East Mill Creek, with Gordon himself installing the furnace and laying the brick flue, but two years later they built their present home, nearby. They have been blessed with three daughters, Kathleen (Mrs. N. Alan Barnes), Virginia, and Cynthia Jane, also two sons, Richard, now a missionary in Germany, and Clark. Elder Hinckley served in several Church positions in Liberty Stake, including stake Sunday School superintendent. He was called to the Sunday School general board at the age of twenty-seven, serving in this capacity for nine years. The Sabbath school lessons that he wrote on the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon are still in use throughout the Church. He has won wide acclaim as a writer and speaker and has distinguished himself as an administrator. In 1946 he was called to the East Mill Creek Stake presidency, and in 1956 became stake president—the third generation Hinckley to hold this high office. Ira N. Hinckley had been the first president of Millard Stake in central Utah, and Bryant S. Hinckley had served as Liberty Stake president for many years. East Mill Creek Stake under President Hinckley faced great challenges, for it is situated in one of the most rapidly growing areas in the State of Utah. During the years that Elder Hinckley served in the presidency, fifteen new wards were created, and the stake was twice divided to become four large stakes. One day the stake president marked a spot in the fields where as a farm boy he had roamed, and at once the walls of a spacious new stake center began rising. The stake purchased a 250-acre welfare farm, and priesthood quorums and auxiliary organizations began collecting dimes and dollars to buy Herefords and hogs. This stake grew in sinew under one of its longtime sons. Other East Mill Creek undertakings felt the influence of Gordon B. Hinckley's straight-from-the-shoulder wisdom. For two years he was president of the civic league, also a director of the water company. During these days he and his brother Sherman created two new subdivisions in the area, and in downtown business, he was one of the organizers of Recording Arts, Inc., of which he is now vice president. A broad, many-sided background, rich in missionary service and leadership, moves into the Council of the Twelve with the new apostle. As G. Homer Durham, president of Arizona State University and intimate friend of Gordon B. Hinckley through some forty years, said: "Like his father, Gordon has magnificent gifts of written and oral expression. His judgment stands up in every situation. His insight into human character and situations is rich and meaningful. He knows when silence is better than utterance. He has a sense of humor that endears him to all." A resident in East Mill Creek described him also: "Out our way, some of the scrub oak on the mountain side grows extra tall and slender. Those trees are the first to catch the morning sun, but they give shade that draws people to them. They have seen hard winters. Snows pile high around them. They stand firm through storms. They are solid—and lofty too. Gordon Hinckley is like that—a slender oak." |
Pictured is the Gordon B. Hinckley family, front row, left to right, Clark; Cynthia.
Back row, Virginia; Sister Hinckley; Elder Hinckley and granddaughter Heather Barnes; Kathleen Hinckley Barnes; N. Alan Barnes. [Insert] Richard G., serving on a mission in Germany. |
Petersen, Mark E. "Gordon Bitner Hinckley Appointed to the Council of the Twelve." Relief Society Magazine. December 1961. pg. 802-804.
Gordon Bitner Hinckley Appointed to the Council of the Twelve Elder Mark E. Petersen Of the Council of the Twelve AS Mormonism has become a world-wide movement in recent years, the missionary system of the Church has taken on tremendous proportions. It involves the labors of more than 9,000 missionaries in sixty-four missions in twenty-eight nations in all parts of the free world. Through it last year approximately six million missionary tracts and one half million copies of The Book of Mormon were distributed, resulting in 48,000 convert baptisms, a figure which probably will be doubled in 1961. It is a great pulsing, progressive enterprise which touches intimately the lives of hosts of people both within and without the Church. At the heart of it all sits a young man who co-ordinates its manifold activities under the direction of the First Presidency of the Church. He is Elder Gordon Bitner Hinckley, appointed as the newest member of the Council of the Twelve at the October 1961 General Conference of the Church. Over his desk and through his telephone pass literally thousands of communications pertaining to this work. They come from the missions themselves, from homes of missionaries, the Selective Service, colleges, printers, editors, writers, and translators. They pertain to assignment of missionaries, to transfer, when necessary, to care for the sick in the field, and death when that occasionally happens; to preparation and publication of mission literature in scores of tongues, to radio scripts, TV programs, and even to transportation problems. Elder Hinckley has literally grown up with this modern missionary enterprise, and the details of its operation not only are directed but in a considerable degree have been developed by him. His missionary activity began in the depth of the depression, when there were relatively few missionaries in the field. That was in 1933. Having graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Arts degree in June of the previous year he was preparing to enter Columbia University School of Journalism when he received his call to go to England. Elder Joseph F. Merrill of the Council of the Twelve became president of the European mission in 1934, and recognizing the exception- al talents of this young missionary, he chose him as a special assistant in administering many of the affairs of the mission. Returning home at the close of his successful period of service, he was appointed by the First Presidency to work with President Stephen L Richards in the newly organized Church Radio, Publicity, and Mission Literature committee. In this capacity he prepared numerous aids for missionaries, including film strips, thousands of radio scripts, and the supervision of the mission literature for all the missions. One of his most important contributions in this connection was his work on the "Fulness of Times'' series, consisting of thirty-nine half-hour dramatizations of Church history. These were produced in Hollywood by the finest talent available. Elder Hinckley wrote most of the scripts for the series, edited all of them, and supervised their production. This series has been used throughout the world and has been presented over at least 500 different radio stations which contributed their time without cost for the Church. He also produced a second series from The Book of Mormon under the title, 'A New Witness for Christ," which also saw wide distribution. FOR years he has had the responsibility of producing the Sunday night Church broadcast over KSL. He has furnished radio programs for hundreds of other stations, and has carried the detail for our Church participation on ''Columbia's Church of the Air" broadcasts. In 1938-39 the Church had an exhibit in the San Francisco World Fair on Treasure Island, which also was assigned to Elder Hinckley. For this purpose a scale model of the Salt Lake Tabernacle was made, and organ recitals and an illustrated story of the Church were presented there to tens of thousands of World Fair visitors. Elder Hinckley fulfilled a similar responsibility for the centennial of the discovery of gold in California. He supervised the building of a replica of the cabin occupied by the members of the Mormon Battalion when gold was found on January 24, 1848. On the occasion of this celebration. Governor Earl Warren, now of the United States Supreme Court, paid glowing tribute to the Mormon people. Elder Hinckley was assigned by President George Albert Smith to write. What of the Mormons, setting forth facts on the Church and its history for presentation to the governors of America who met in Salt Lake City for convention in 1947. The book has since become one of our most widely used missionary volumes. Elder Hinckley wrote The Life of James H. Moyle, the father of President Henry D. Moyle. He has authored scores of pamphlets and newspaper and magazine articles. He also worked on a committee which has produced the temple ceremonies in thirteen different languages, including German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, French, Spanish, Tahitian, Tongan, Samoan, and Maori. He has traveled extensively in the Orient in connection with his missionary assignments. He was caught in the anti-American rioting in Tokyo in i960, and was in Korea last May when the military took over the government there. Shooting occurred beneath his own hotel windows. At the age of twenty-seven he was named a member of the Deseret Sunday School Union Board and served in this capacity for nine years. In 1946 he became a counselor in the East Mill Creek Stake Presidency and ten years later was made stake president. He was sustained an Assistant to the Council of the Twelve on April 6, 1958. Elder Hinckley was born June 23, 1910, to an outstanding Mormon family. His father was Bryant S. Hinckley, for years President of the Liberty Stake and later of the Northern States Mission. His talented mother was Ada Bitner Hinckley, a woman of rare insight and faith. He is blessed with a remarkable wife in the person of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, who herself has been a devoted Church worker from childhood. They have five children. Still a young man, Elder Hinckley's talents will be a blessing to the Church for years to come. He is a choice vessel in the hands of the Lord. |
ELDER GORDON B. HINCKLEY
ELDER GORDON B. HINCKLEY AND HIS FAMILY
Front row, left to right: Clark Hinckley; Cynthia Hinckley. Back row, left to right: Virginia Hinckley; Marjorie Pay Hinckley, wife of Elder Hinckley; Elder Gordon B. Hinckley and granddaughter Heather Barnes; Kathleen Hinckley Barnes; N. Alan Barnes. Insert: Richard G. Hinckley, serving on a mission in Germany. |